To most college students, Mondays can be quite a drag. It's the first day of the week, and early classes often drag most of us out of bed before 8 A.M. However, there's something very special about Mondays. There is something that always makes me look forward to Mondays, and it is something truly special to be a part of.

If you haven't heard about it, Monday nights at 8 P.M. at First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, which is right across the road from the Theron Montgomery Building, has a ministry they put on specifically for college students. It is truly an amazing experience, and I am very excited to share a little bit about this amazing ministry and experience with everyone.

Engage JSU is a college ministry put on by First Baptist Church. The college pastor, Jesse Stewart, speaks each week on something that relates to us as college students, and how we can apply the Bible to our daily lives. Last year, Jesse presented a series on the book of James called "Ask James," which talked about how we should live out our lives as Christians. This past spring semester, for the first part, we went over a series on anxiety called "What If."

This series focused on four different types of anxieties we face in life: the fear of the future, which is essentially fearing what could happen in the future when certain situations occur; the fear of acceptance, which is this feeling that people won't accept us for who we are, causing us to put on a facade to make people like us; the fear of failure, which is this fear of having one job (for example, taking a test) and failing it; and the fear of not being in control, which I experienced over the summer when my brother totaled his 2017 Tacoma, and all I could do was sit back and watch him struggle.

I couldn't help him financially with getting a new vehicle. All of these fears have one common and very simple solution. Look to God. The God who created us is in control of all things and will work them out. We don't have to have any of these fears, but the reason we have these fears is that we start to lack trust and faith in God, according to Jesse.

This semester at Engage, which started August 27, Jesse is starting off with a series called "Hello, My Shame Is..." This series is focused primarily on something we all face, which is a shame. Whether it is when we fail a test, wreck a vehicle we have worked so hard for, or do something very embarrassing, we all deal with shame at some point in our lives.

Jesse defined shame as "focusing on the gap between who you are and who you should be." What this is saying is that, in the example of failing a test, we focus on the gap between our failure of the test and success. In the passage Jesse used to open up the series (Psalm 69:19-20,29-30), we see that, even though David is heartbroken because of the way people see him, he still chooses to worship God. Jesse says that the lesson we take away from this series is that perspective is our goal, not perfection. According to Jesse, that perspective is that we seek out God the way He sees us.

This will be an exciting series on how we should deal with our shame.

Photo from first Engage of Fall 2018 Semester, during worship.Photo courtesy of my phone

While Engage may seem like a boring service where we just sit and listen to Jesse the whole time, it is so much more than that. The Engage worship band made up of several students who attend Jacksonville State, including one who has recently had his solo track played on the Jacksonville State radio station. They bring the passion each and every week to Engage. Through the songs they have played, I have felt the spirit of our Lord and Savior moving in the church.

The music they play is centered specifically on college students. They put in many hours of practice each week getting ready for Engage, and you can tell through the passion they bring that they truly enjoy what they are doing.

People and relationships are the backbones of Engage. As part of the welcoming team at Engage, my job is to make everyone who comes to the Monday night service feel welcomed, as well as build a relationship with them so that they will have familiar faces to worship with and hang out with each week. The mantra for Engage is "At JSU as it is in Heaven."

This means that, through this ministry, we hope to see lives changed and God's will be done on our campus as it is in Heaven. If you have never been or are looking for a way to spend your Monday nights, I would strongly encourage you to give Engage JSU a try!